Need help with my jurassic printer and its parallel port

[dee_yanne]

I'm currently using a Toshiba notebook, and my old Canon BJC-250 connects to it via parallel port. My mom is coming home from the States on the 29th with my gift...a 14 inch iBook (grovelling does work, apparently). But the iBook doesn't have a parallel port...and my dad wouldn't buy me a new printer. (I think he said something along the lines of "Ayan, pa-Mac Mac pa kasi eh." Urgh)

Isn't there anything I can do, short of not eating for a month in order to buy a new printer?

[penmanila]

if i'm not mistaken, there is such a creature as a USB-to-parallel adaptor (i think i even have one somewhere); the question, however, is whether you'll need a driver to run this setup, and if one exists.

if you got your mom to get an ibook, grovel some more--a new canon or epson printer costs only 2,400

[dee_yanne]

Php2,400? Really...hmm. I had no idea. And all this time, I was under the mistaken impression that printers cost about a gazillion pesos. The last time I even looked at another printer was when we bought the Canon way way back in 1999. Hee. This is an interesting discovery indeed. Thanks!

Now, if only I can get my dad to see the error in his judgment.

Must. Grovel. Some. More.

[penmanila]

yup, i bought a canon iP1000 at cyberzone last week for 2.4K, and it's small, cute, and fast! there's also a new epson priced exactly the same, but slower (daw). these are entry-level printers but they'll certainly serve your needs better than some clunky old parallel-port printer.

[dee_yanne]

Thank you so much for your help.

[dee_yanne]

I must mention that I've read a few of your poems for my freshman creative writing class.

I feel so starstruck!

:blush:

[penmanila]

many thanks--although your teacher surely forced you to do that that's the great thing about philmug--you'll never know who you'll run into. the poets and writers i've convinced to get ibooks and powerbooks include krip yuson, charlson ong, marne kilates, pete lacaba, anton juan, ricky de ungria, carla pacis, jimmy abad, cyan abad, migs villanueva, luna sicat, natasha vizcarra, kimi tuvera, mia gonzalez, mabi david, chingbee cruz--and let's not forget april yap and maryanne moll, who are both philmuggers. it's the writer's weapon of choice

[Maccess]

well, we do have the Parallel port to USB cable (it works with Macs and PCs).

OS X doesn't need a driver for most printers.. just use gimp-print.

that said, it might be better just to buy a new pirnter for less than P3T... there is also an excelletn laser printer from Samsung for less than 6T.

Printers are generally not Mac or PC specific, which means your new printer should also work just fine with your old toshiba (if it has an Ethernet Port).

[jorweeck]

Originally posted by Maccess
well, we do have the Parallel port to USB cable (it works with Macs and PCs).

OS X doesn't need a driver for most printers.. just use gimp-print.

that said, it might be better just to buy a new pirnter for less than P3T... there is also an excelletn laser printer from Samsung for less than 6T.

Printers are generally not Mac or PC specific, which means your new printer should also work just fine with your old toshiba (if it has an Ethernet Port).

Even if it is cheaper and more convenient to buy a new printer, there're some printers that people get attached to. I'm also looking for that parallel to USB thing for my Epson LX-800. I just love that printer! It's so noisy it drives people away. And ink ribbons are cheaper too!

One more thing to add, nakakahinayang to get rid of a working device.

[jerrytieng]

Another option is to get an ethernet switch or wifi router with a built-in print server. I just found one in my 'attic' yesterday. How these things work is that you hook up the printer (with parallel port) into the switch and everybody in the network will be able to share the printer -- Mac's and PC's alike.